I've been feeling disgruntled with my job search. I had a temporary job for 4 months, that I quite enjoyed, but was let go earlier than expected (all temps, not just me). I've applied for dozens of jobs since then, even gotten a few offers that I've turned down because they just didn't feel right for me. Most of the people who call me are recruiting companies, who usually only offer temp jobs, and exist to make money off you. I don't want to deal with them anymore really. Maybe i'll just start my own fucking company!

My gay 21 year old roommate who I've been living with for the past year invited his 50 year old homeless "Aunt" to live with us without asking me. Sure enough, she has been letting her 2 homeless kids live in our small apartment too. They all have obviously abused drugs (read: meth) for a while. All these weirdo strangers in my home has been driving me crazy lately.

My best friend, who has been married for 5 years with 1 small child, just got separated from his wife. I was shocked when I heard the news. Long story short, I'm leaving my shitty small apartment living with methheads to stay with him in a small town just for a few months until I find a place of my own and to keep him company. Good news is, they are on good terms for now. I've been wanting to spend time away from St. Louis anyway.

I've been feeling disgruntled with my job search. I had a temporary job for 4 months, that I quite enjoyed, but was let go earlier than expected (all temps, not just me). I've applied for dozens of jobs since then, even gotten a few offers that I've turned down because they just didn't feel right for me. Most of the people who call me are recruiting companies, who usually only offer temp jobs, and exist to make money off you. I don't want to deal with them anymore really. Maybe i'll just start my own fucking company!

I need to get my wisdom teeth removed badly. Shits expensive without insurance.

First was when my mother was diagnosed with both lung and breast cancer, very aggressive, with little hope of surviving them.

Second was when she died from acute pneumonia in hospital after fighting what had been looking like a winning battle against those cancers for several months.

And the third was when I found out that my long-standing girlfriend of 10 years had actually been lying to me about a great many things for all the time I'd known her. And these were not small lies, but rather ones of relationship-breaking proportions. So I broke up with her.

The fourth moment is...complicated, because it only occurred as a result of the loss of my mother, and it happened literally just a couple of days after I broke up with my gf. This moment was when I won the videomakers' competition for the game Elite Dangerous in May this year.

The brief for that competiton was to use the game's newly added camera suite to create a short story video (4mins or less). I was already very familiar with making Elite Dangerous story videos (I think by that time, my "Turjan's Travels" series had reached its 30th episode), but this was different - I felt I could take this opportunity to do something I never got the chance to do when my mother died : say goodbye to her.

So I wrote an narrative tale based on my mother's life, transposed it into the Elite Dangerous future galaxy, collected the footage I needed, edited it all together...and then very nearly didn't even submit the finished video for the competition at all. It was a deeply personal piece after all, and the main reason I made it was for me really. But a couple of my fellow videomaking friends encouraged me to enter it, and so I did, and it was chosen as the winner. And when I saw all the heartfelt comments the video received, and how watching it had caused a lot of viewers to contact their own mothers to say they loved them, I knew I'd made the right choice submitting the video after all. And I knew my mother would've been proud.

Of all the various artistic and creative endeavours I've turned my hand to over the years, I believe that this one video, "Stardust", stands as my best work. It was an ordeal to make of course, because I was forever fighting back tears as I edited it together, and even now I still can't watch it without my eyes blurring up.

But perhaps the saddest part of it all was that I couldn't share my pride at the success of that video with the two most important people in my life : my mother and my girlfriend. Because neither of them were actually a part of my life any more.

So winning that competition was very much a bittersweet experience. But then a lot of art is really, isn't it? The experience did reinforce my desire to keep making story videos though - I've always liked telling stories (as folk here in the UV know perhaps better than anyone else!) and I really like using video as the medium with which to tell those stories.

Vault Idea 1: What if we have a vault that is divided by two equal communities by some locked doors that would unlock at an arbitrary time (Maybe like 50 or 100 years after the Vault doors close)

Each vault has the normal jobs (Overseer, Security Chief, Doctors, Engineers etc.) But each section was controlled by a shadow council that would realistically make all the decisions for the vault. Each side would have one and may spread a fear of what's behind the locked doors. Maybe there is an endless supply of food, maybe evil individuals. Once the doors open then who knows what would happen. Would the shadow councils fight against the other shadow council? Who knows.

Vault Idea 2: You could also have a hereditary version of the Stanford Prison Experiment with the "Warden" being a computer program Magic Eight Ball that gives random advice or orders. It may eventually become worshiped as a god by the inhabitants. Anyway, upon entry to the vault, there is a random picking of who would be Guard and Prisoners. Vault 14? (Since the RL Experiment was supposed to last 14 days) The Guards and Prisoners would have children and their roles would pass down from the parents. I guess if the parents are a Prisoner and a Guard, then they ask the 8 ball. Changing of the roles may also probably occur depending on the will of the Guards since they are pretty much in control.

The Vault houses a large, underground dome. In it is a perfect model 50s village, where the residents live. They've received a number of memory altering drugs to make them forget their past lives and live in a never changing, cultural wasteland.

The experiment determines what effects cultural stagnation has on a populace of any size as well as isolation in a more realistic environment. Any attempt at escape would result in all residents being apprehended and rendered unconscious, prompting them to awake, the next day in their beds.

It would be like the perfect combination of The Prisoner and Pleasantville.

A vault with novelty board games that look really interesting but really really aren't and millions of mislabelled VHS tapes, all mislabelled and mostly early 80's Russian cooking shows. The interesting ones all lose sound and or tracking at vital plot points. There's a Betamax labeled "GECK location and instructions" but no Betamax player, so starts a quest for a video repair shop.